“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, or in “Modern Times”?
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Rookie Mistake, the four- piece band from New York, are gearing up to release their debut album, Fields of Plenty next month. While we wait for the full length album, they’ve given us a single from the record to hold us over. Their new song “Fear and Loathing In Modern Times” gives us a glimpse into what the album has in store.
Starting off with soft instrumentals and a looping effect, singer Justin Gambardella’s vocals quickly join in to complement the sounds perfectly. There’s something that feels very Modest Mouse about the track, between the looping sound in the background and the specific sort of raw vocal style, but honestly I love it. Part of this credit can also be given to bassist Gianna Minerva and drummer Nick Fioravanti, as their steady parts that control the beginning of the song are very reminiscent of Modest Mouse’s “Polar Opposites”.
While being a young band, they write beyond their years exploring themes that apply to almost everyone right now. From complicated relationships to the consequences of living in a capitalist society and thinking introspectively about personal conflicts, the song works to examine all of these situations and recognize how they can provide an odd beauty to our lives. The song builds upon these issues and topics piling on one after the other, growing to provide a powerful shift in both sound and attitude.
After listing these thoughts out, Gambardella sings But you can’t erase it, it’s all you got, which emphasizes this idea of coming to terms with the complexities of life and ugly situations we deal with, and learning how to live with them. At the same time as this tonal shift happens, the instrumentals grow louder and lean more into the rock genre, further pushing this change.
Based on the title alone, I wasn’t really sure what kind of song to expect because of the callback to the 1998 movie and original book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. The story is all over the place, very chaotic and almost dizzying– the complete opposite of this song. In comparison, this track is a deeply personal one that tries to work through some of the hardships we all face in our daily lives, and figure out how to better live with them. There are times where we get to listen to, essentially, a conversation between Gambardella and guitarist/background vocalist Ethan Brown. Lyrics like Moving out just to move back home in a year with Ethan/ Justin and putting the name of what I assume to be their old elementary school in the song made me feel more connected to them and the message they are trying to get across. I found these moments to be my favorites as they felt the most intimate, tying me to the story and the people involved in the song.
This was really a great way to introduce this new album and the talent this band has. Their full record will be out September 25, and if the rest of the songs on it are anything like this single, it’s bound to be amazing.